AUS v IND 2018-19: Handscomb coming to terms with his new white-ball specialist tag in the Ashes year

The right-hander has been dropped from Australia's Test squad.

Handscomb could only manage 105 runs across his five innings in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy | Getty

Peter Handscomb, who has been dropped from Australia's Test squad in the year that includes an away Ashes but also the ICC Cricket World Cup in England & Wales, is reflecting back at the sudden transition that has taken place in his career.

The right-hander won't be featuring in the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home. Though he did really well in the just-concluded ODI series versus the rampaging Indians.

But "Any runs are good runs," Handscomb was quoted saying by cricket.com.au on Saturday, January 19 after the third one-dayer in Melbourne, "I’m just trying to play for Australia in any format. If I’m doing well in the one-dayers, happy days. I can push my case at some stage for red-ball again, but at the moment I’ve got to concentrate on the white ball."

The 27-year-old managed only 105 runs across his five innings in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but struck 151 of them at an average of 50.33 in the three ODIs against Virat Kohli's men.

He is finding comfort as an anchor in the middle-order and feels there is a place for one such player even in the most explosive batting line-ups like India and England.

"They go pretty hard, but they’ve got their controllers as well. They have (Joe) Root and (Eoin) Morgan who play that holding role in the middle. I’m looking to go at a run a ball and play the spin really well," Handscomb further said.

"We’re looking to rotate the strike against spin and take it deep. The power we’ve got in this team is amazing, as long as we get them in the last 10 overs."

"If you change your game plan, it’s not going to work straight away. For us, its worked pretty well pretty quickly, but we’ve got some things to learn."

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 19 Jan, 2019

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